Ethelbekt belknap



V UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

Q ETHELBERT BELKNAP, OF YONKERS, NEW YORK.

MANUFACTURE OF WOOL-FELT FABRICS.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 223,633, dated January20, 1880.

Application filed February 9, 1878. i

'tions, by which the felting and stiffening processes are acceleratedand better results attained in the finished fabric.

My improvement is particularly applicable to the manufacture ofwool-felt hats, but is of corresponding value in the manufacture ofother classes of wool-felted goods.

It is well known that preliminary to felting the wool is carded and laidin bat form for building up the rudimentary hat-body or other article,and that this working of the wool necessarily involves the presence ofmore or less oily or greasy matter in the wool for properly controllingand workin g the fiber. This greasy matter in the wool also performs avaluable service in the rudimentary hat-body, for it therein contributesto the strength of the bat in assisting the fibers to maintain closerelations to each other, and it renders it safe and easy to handle thebat during the first stages of the felting operations. Just as soon,however, as preliminary felting has secured a requisite degree ofstrength, the greasy matter ceases to perform any useful service andbecomes an actual detriment, as it is well known that in proportion asthe wool is free from oil so will the hot water and steam in thefeltingmill have a more intimate contact with the fiber. To facilitatethe felting operation, regardless of the presence of oily or greasymatter, fulling-soap has heretofore been used; but the nature of thegoods is such that it is difficult afterward to so thoroughly remove thesoap as to leave the fabric clear and bright, and if not thus removed itis approximately as fatal to a fine finish as the grease would be.

My invention consists in subjecting the fabrics, after they have beenpartially or fully felted, to a bath of benzine or other volatilesolvent which is capable of removing from the fabric the oily or greasymatter contained therein.

I am wellaware of the extensive use for many years of benzine, naphtha,and other hydrocarbons, as well as othersutficiently inexpensivevolatile bodies, for removing grease and. oils from the hulls of seeds,cotton-waste, and wool, and it isto be distinctly understood that I makeno claim thereto, except when their use constitutes a step in themanufacture of woolfelt fabrics.

The prime benefits of my invention are attained by subjecting thefabrics to the henzinebath just so soon as by partial felting they arestrong enough to safely undergo the requisite handling, because thebalance of the felting operation may thereafter be performed withgreater facility and rapidity and with better results, and will requireonly hot Water or steam in the felting-mill.

A substantial benefit is also attained, by reason of my invention, evenif the fabrics are not subjected to the benzine-bath until next afterthe felting operation is completed, because the felting will then havebeen performed at least equally as well as heretofore, with or withoutsoap, as the case may be, and the fabric will be thoroughly cleansed bythe benzine from all foreign matters which might thereafter appear uponthe surface of a finished hat, for instance, and destroy its neat andattractive appearance.

The operation succeeding the felting, particularly in the manufacture ofhats, is the stiffening operation, during which shellac or othersuitable stiff, in some of its various forms, is applied. It is obviousthat the presence of grease, oil, or even soap in the felt will preventthe uniform application of the stiff, and in this connection myinvention has great practical value, for after the benzine-bath thefelted goods readily and evenly take up the stiff, and good results arealways attained.

The value of the increased labor incident to the handling of the goodsin connection with the benzine-bath is more than compensated by theincreased rapidity of the felting operation when the bath is employedwith the partially-felted' fabric, and by the increased facility withwhich the stiffening is effected, not

only in the case last mentioned, but also when the fully-felted fabricsare subjected to the bath, The exposure of, the fabrics to the hen zinewill, of course, be varied as regards time, aceordin g to circumstances,and, with a View to economy, any apparatus may be employed with whichthe recovery of the volatile vapors may be accomplished. There arenumerous kinds of apparatus heretofore employed in cleaning waste andwool with benzine which may be successfully used in this connection, andespecially that class of apparatus with which the recovery of the greasyor oily matter is possible, because the value of the matter thus savedwill serve to offset, to some extent,

